If Apathy Were Virtue
by bubblybunnybabe
Summary: June didn't think that her new job as Phoenix Queen Mai's bodyguard would be so remarkably difficult. [Maizai/MaiJune, AU]
1. Chapter 1

_AN: First ever fanfic! I'm excited. It's a Ozai/Mai/June love triangle, essentially, with mysterious assassins/enemies who need to be stopped. I don't think it'll be much more complicated than that so it will probably be a shortish fic. There's also Tyzula, Zutara and probably some others but June is the protagonist so..._

* * *

"Just don't look at her in a sexual way," says Lee and June cocks a teasing eyebrow at his _urgency_ about June's new job.

"Now, why would I do that?" she drawls, leaning back against the wall of the dive bar. He looks at her like it's so _serious_. She can't even go out and celebrate her fucking new job, can she?

"Because one time he cut a guy's eyes out for looking at her in a sexual way." Needless to say, the man also burned down the entire world, which is slightly more intimidating.

But June isn't intimidated by it. _Nothing_ scares her, not even the damned Phoenix King.

So she snorts. "That's…" She then pauses and rolls her shoulders. "That's believable. But it's not like I'm gonna tell him I'm into girls and it's not like I'm gonna be into his wife."

She runs her hand along the notch on the wall and feels a shiver nobody notices but her. It's been nine years exactly. Five years since she got out of prison. She doesn't like such deliberate scratches. If some dumb kid feels the need to immortalize his girlfriend on this ugly wood, it's probably within her rights to leave him.

"You there?" Lee has asked it too many times. June makes sure he knows it is because she thinks he's boring, not because she gets lost in her thoughts. Or that she _has_ thoughts in the first place.

"I've gotta pack. It's a day to get there," June says, pushing off of the wall and leaving both the scratches and its owner behind her. "I should probably worry more about being late to my first day as a royal bodyguard than if he thinks I'm gonna steal his wife."

"You promised you'd tell me why you agreed to work for him before you left," argues Lee and June winks at him.

"I lied."

" " "

A day later, June strides through the grand front courtyard of Sozin City Palace and gazes ahead of her. This place is nice. In her younger days, she would have plotted how to rob it. Now, she just wants to get out of the disgusting comet-scorched land, given that her bounty hunter career went downhill without Nyla.

"So, is it true that the Phoenix King had a guy's eyes gouged out for looking at her wrong? Am I supposed to do any eye gouging?"

Chan laughs and laughs. "He's fucked up some guys good for nothing. That's why he hired a girl to accompany her at all times. I _know_ he ripped out the throat of some army guy pretty high in ranks because he asked her too many questions at a gala."

"He asked her too many questions?" June laughs and Chan gives her a serious glance. "Were they about, uh, the fact that she went from a prisoner of war to our queen?"

 _Our queen_ is too mocking on June's tongue, but she knows to lose that type of attitude when she takes the job. It is the best thing that ever happened to her.

June doesn't have the fondest opinion of people who locked her in prison for four years and lost Nyla. She hates them, but she never cared about that in her line of work before.

Chan escorts her to a room in which she sits down on a mat and waits for the Phoenix King.

He arrives late. It isn't like June is going to do anything about it.

"I've been having some. . . issues with insurgents. They've tried to harm my wife and therefore I insist on a constant guard for her," he says and June nods at him. He goes on about a few details, shit about the job that June could figure out on her own. He finishes with, "Any questions?"

"Yeah. Why'd you hire me?" June asks and he stares at her for a moment.

"You have good senses, you have a history of violence and you are the most qualified person who applied for the job. Now, there will be guards around you at most times, so I trust you won't try anything or fail me. The only time I need you to work alone is when you accompany her at night and when she is in the palace without a formal guard," Ozai lists and June finds his voice. . . disturbing. Disturbing for no good reason.

"I can handle it. She'll be safe at all times."

"That's what I like to hear. I want you to escort her out of the palace for her birthday tonight after you get your tour, regulations and permitted weapons. I imagine it would be easy to strike her when she is out in the open like that."

"Of course."

"I want her to enjoy herself. I won't be accompanying her."

June suddenly realizes that it is _her_ job to make the Phoenix Queen have fun.

Great. She hates prissy snobs.

" " "

June's first assignment isn't combat heavy and she doesn't want it to be. She just wants to get this birthday over with.

She guesses she doesn't mind an easy one first. For a few minutes she wonders why the Phoenix King wants someone else to take his wife out for her birthday, but then she realizes that she doesn't care. It's none of her business and she doesn't give a fuck about anyone else's business.

June takes a deep breath and leans against the doorway to Queen Mai's chambers.

"I'm here for you, your worship," June drawls and she receives brief silence.

"You can come in. Or not. I don't really care," and that is the first time June hears her voice.

It makes a smile flicker across June's lips. Maybe she won't be as awful as June thought. The former bounty hunter pushes open the door and sees Mai halfway dressed. It would be polite to avert her eyes, but June has never been polite.

Mai finishes and looks June in the eyes. The Phoenix Queen has very _amber_ ones and they analyze every inch of Mai, pausing on her tattoo, pausing on scars, finishing by looking at her face.

"I don't want a bodyguard. I don't need a bodyguard," Mai says coldly. "Don't fuck up."

June cocks an eyebrow. "Well, you've made yourself clear. Let me write that down. _Don't fuck up,_ right? Do you have a pen?"

Mai's expression doesn't move.

June thinks this might be even worse than if she was the obnoxious prissy royal June thought that she would be. The Phoenix Queen looks the type of dangerous that stabs you in the front because they don't even give a fuck about hiding it.

Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe that's a bad thing.

" " "

Mai is evidently not one for small talk. She is silent for the entirety of the trip via palanquin as June walks. They get there and June rubs her hand on her shirt before extending it. She never has done something that polite, but she cares more about money than pride.

"Well, after you, kitty cat," June says and the queen takes her hand and lets her help her out of the palanquin. But not without evident distaste. "You're gonna have fun. I'm fun as fuck."

"We better. It's my birthday," Mai says dryly and June cannot tell if she is being serious or not. "And I preferred your worship."

"I can't believe you prefer something," June says, laughing. "I don't think you've liked anything since I met you."

"How observant of you." Mai gets up and walks inside before June can do her damned job and properly escort the young woman.

June walks inside the place and sees that she won't be drinking anyone under the table. This joint is a glorified teashop and she has to _babysit_.

" " "

Mai and June are situated on a balcony that overlooks the real bar. They are alone save for a few soldiers, and the small talk is tormenting June.

"You're boring. I'm bored," Mai says by the time their drinks arrive.

June tries to keep calm. "Fine. You got anything better to talk about?"

"So, do you have a past?" Mai offers coolly.

"Most people do," June replies with a snort.

Mai taps a long, sharp nail on her cup. "You're not very careful with me. Most people grovel."

"Do you like groveling?" June asks, cocking her eyebrow.

"Maybe, yeah, yeah I guess. But it gets kinda boring after a while," Mai says and June doesn't know if that means Mai thinks she is interesting or not. "Really, I don't care about your life story, you just look like you've got more interesting stories to tell than that bullshit."

"I was a bounty hunter. I was the best bounty hunter there ever was. That's it. Nothing else. I used to win a lotta drinking contests and used to hustle people at darts," June says and Mai's eyes glint. It's weird, but maybe June just managed to say something that interested the Phoenix Queen.

"Teach me how to play darts," Mai demands in a contrasting deadpan and June laughs, glancing over the balcony at the boring soldiers playing downstairs. "I said teach you how to play darts. I believe that the Phoenix King, uncontested tyrant of the entire planet and your boss, told you to take me out and give me a good time. When I say I want you to teach me how to play darts, you to teach me how to play darts."

June manages not to roll her eyes and stands up. "Sure. Whatever."

" " "

After an hour of painstaking teaching, June lies through her teeth, "You're good at this."

"Yeah, I think I am," Mai replies and June thinks maybe she hasn't been spoken to honestly in a long time. "Will you play against me? I'm pretty competitive."

"Yeah, whatever," June says and Mai nods once.

"Gambling is required. I think playing games without stakes is more boring watching paint dry."

"The world sure can't impress you, can it?" June shrugs and decides it doesn't matter. "What would you like to bet?"

"I'm not tell you. Whatever I ask. And you the other way around," Mai says and June just shrugs.

She has to do whatever Mai asks anyway. "I'm not gonna go easy on you because you're fucking an emperor."

"I wouldn't expect anything else," Mai says, stepping back to the line carved in the wood.

June waits with her arms crossed for the darts to ricochet off of the board.

They don't.

She hits a bull's-eye on the first throw.

" " "

June's night has taken a turn for the interesting. She didn't expect that when Ozai told her that she was going to do it.

"I've got to give you some credit," June admits, sitting down and setting her feet up on the table. "I've never been hustled before."

"Yeah. I liked your expression when you realized how futile attempting to beat me was." Mai downs the last of her drink. "Take me home."

"Is that your bet?" June cocks an eyebrow.

"Oh, no. I'm asking for that when we get home," Mai says, standing up and looking up at the other soldiers eyeing them both. "Take us back to the palace. _Now_."

June thinks she might have been wrong.

This Phoenix Queen might only be moderately torturous to guard.

" " "

June looks around at the expansive chambers allotted to the Phoenix Queen. They're beautiful, if you're into that kind of thing. June isn't, and June can tell that Mai isn't either. The beautiful silk robes are all untouched, the decorations neglected and not a single item has been removed from the shelves in a long time.

"The view isn't horrible, except at sunset and sunrise," Mai says as she walks to the window and looks out.

"Lemme guess, you hate sunsets and sunrises?"

"Yeah. They're orange," Mai says. She steps away from the window and begins to change her clothes.

"I'll be checking the entrances," June says quickly. She is actually relieved she didn't get drunk when out at a bar. It would be a lot harder to ignore that if she weren't.

June finishes her work and returns to find Mai still staring out of the window. Like she wants out. Like she would do anything to get out because _of course_ this place is a prison.

But June doesn't ask; she just goes to her bed and falls asleep instantaneously.

Today was slightly better than anticipated.

She still isn't that optimistic about the job.


	2. Chapter 2

June wakes to the most terrifying thing she has ever encountered.

She has a _hangover_. June does _not_ get hangovers. It's something she lucked out on, and something she was notorious for. And she _barely drank_ last night because she was babysitting the Phoenix Queen.

This is not off to a good start.

When she looks around, she sees that it is still dark out. The sun seems to be trying to rise, but not there yet, and she wonders how she could have gotten this bad so fast. Maybe she is just sick, right?

She gets up, groaning, and walks directly to the window. It seems like suicide with her headache, but she kept catching glimpses of the city and wonders what it looks like from the highest tower.

Highest tower. He locks his wife up in the highest tower like some kind of kid's fairy tale.

June isn't impressed by the Sozin City Skyline; all she can think about is crawling back into her bed. It just looks like metal eating old stone alive, like everything else after the comet. Yeah, it sprawls like nothing she has seen and the walls are depressing. But nature looks better. Bars look better. The young woman who has just walked to her side to her looks better.

"The stars here are nothing compared to out there. Same with the sunrise," June complains as she studies the polluted sky. It draws her attention to the factories that must have engulfed the lower ring at some point after Fire Lord Azula desecrated the place for the first time.

"They're worse in the Boiling Rock," Mai says. It's a tease. _Ask about me_. _I'm mysterious. I'm going to try to own you sexually._

That does not happen to June.

"Alright, I'll bite," June says. Mai gives her no expression or response. Predictable. "You've done time. I've done time, you know. It's not that special after the war."

"I wouldn't be surprised if you went to jail a few times before the comet," Mai comments, giving no useful information whatsoever. So, June doesn't say a word. "That's not a story I feel like telling you."

"Fine," June says. She honestly doesn't care. Mai honestly doesn't seem bothered by that, which irks June slightly. Girls don't respond to her like that. They fawn over her.

Maybe she was just imagining the Phoenix Queen's flirtation when they were playing darts.

"You look awful. I'm going to take a bath." Mai stops for a moment. "Those are unrelated. Keep your panties on."

"I _am_ keeping my…" Yeah. June is not saying panties. She would rather die.

" " "

In Mai's bathroom, June pretends to be furniture as a slave girl fills hot water into metal-coated stone, and Mai stares out of the small window. She seems to do that often.

The walls of Sozin City are made to keep people in, not keep people out.

"You can leave," Mai says but June does not move. "I have power over you, and… oh, I don't give a damn."

The Phoenix Queen undresses.

June continues pretending to be furniture, and she does not watch, because she really hasn't gotten over that whole eye gouging story. It probably is true.

She sees the scars and acts like she doesn't.

" " "

June accompanies the Phoenix Queen to a very impromptu lunch. It is extremely formal for coming out of nowhere. She was bored to tears watching Mai read books and scribble pictures on parchment that probably costs as much as an entire bounty.

They don't seem to talk to people or drink or go places. June has no clue why this chick needs a bodyguard. Maybe someone to protect her from a falling book or help her walk when her muscles atrophy.

Finally, they saw someone when Mai decided to go for a walk and complain about everything they walked past. Unfortunately, that someone is June's employer. She isn't quite intimidated by him, but she doesn't like the idea of fucking up in front of him.

"I didn't know you were here," says the Phoenix King once he gets his wife to sit down across from him. Mai does it so carelessly.

"I don't really leave, so it's likely we would run into each other occasionally," Mai dryly replies and June frowns to stifle a laugh.

"Everyone gets as much space between each other as possible in my family. It's how we refrain from killing each other," Ozai says.

Very normal lunchtime conversation, of course.

"I can't imagine the bloodshed if you didn't all have your own wings. There's a lot of killing each other in your family."

" _Our family_ , and I prefer taking prisoners," he says. He seems to be referring to real ones, ones that make Mai shift positions.

"But you never fail to kill the messenger," Mai continues. "It's a very unusual combination."

June has no idea why this girl can talk like that. It doesn't even seem to bother the man who burned the world and destroyed June's life.

"Well, no one likes bad news, and prisoners are entertaining in a very boring world," Ozai says, and June hates understanding that justification.

"That entertaining? I want one," Mai replies. The corner of her lip twitches and June can't understand it.

June would say that Mai has one, if it were a different situation. She has to keep her mouth shut too often in this new line of work, and she still does not know if the payment is worth it. Even if it is payment she will not get from anyone else.

"I'll keep it in mind. Yesterday was your birthday, after all," Ozai says.

"I have gotten people as presents before," Mai replies. "It's more impressive than jewelry."

June has to agree.

" " "

June leans against a wall, watching the sole door that leads into the windowless library. It has a healthy stack of weapons here and there, and some dismantled knives, but the books and scrolls steal her attention.

Mai reads them.

June wants to scream.

"What are you reading about?" June blurts out. "I can't take this silence."

"I'm reading about deadly wildlife," Mai replies.

"And those stacked books?" June loosely points, not having the energy to be specific.

"Mostly about knives. I make my own… and upgrade some in dangerous ways."

"And you're allowed to have them?" June is startled by that.

"Yes. And arrows. I've been practicing with bows and crossbows and whatever."

June finally is interested. "If you're half as good as you are at darts, you could hustle a Yuyan Archer."

"I plan on it. I also expand my arsenal of military expertise. I will never use any of these skills, but fake violence is better than none. Pretty much all I'm not working on is firebending, because that's not exactly my forte," Mai says, and June notes that she does not mention the drawing. "I'm also pretty intrigued by history, because it's really not as glorious and shiny as people say. It's a lot of dirty little people doing dirty little things to other dirty little people and then calling it legendary."

June laughs. "That's, uh, one way of looking at it. I don't read."

"Can you?" Mai asks.

"Of course," June snaps. This bitch.

"You can't."

"I can read," June says, wholly honest. "I mean, I don't have the patience or the means to read one of those dusty stacks of paper, but I can tell the difference between sake and poison and figure out exactly how much people's lives are worth… So, will there be any knife making or target practice? Because that sounds way more interesting."

"It's rainy out."

"Ugh." June sinks onto the floor.

"Don't complain. I'll have you burned at the stake." Mai seems sarcastic, but June does not like the truth at the root of the mockery.

"That sounds more fun than this," she says.

"I think there are some dolls here you could play with."

June rolls her eyes.

" " "

June has had four drinks and no one can blame her for starting to lose her inhibitions. The Phoenix Queen is interesting, she has to admit. She thought it would be standard rich jerks, but instead she found someone really weird.

She doesn't need to know things, but she wants to.

"So, when did they let you out of prison?" June asks and Mai does not look startled.

Most people do when others ask them personal questions.

Again, the Phoenix Queen is actually more interesting than June's past clients.

"I escaped, actually," Mai says and June snorts.

"People don't escape the Boiling Rock," she says with a shake of her head.

"Well, helping people escape _is_ how I got put into it, so, I can safely say that people do escape the Boiling Rock. But you can't do it alone."

"So they _did_ let you out of prison?" June leans forward, abandoning her alcohol.

"No. It's complicated and you don't need to know. I was recaptured, and my choices were very limited. The choices were a variety of ways to be executed, and then this, so, I mean…" Mai just shrugs.

"Better than being dead. I get that." June looks at her empty glass. "I may have no regard for my own life, but I don't want to lose it. I did stupid stuff in a time that had really low tolerance for stupid stuff. It's how it works."

"My life is aimless, meaningless and boring. But it's way better than death." Mai seems not to care, and June wonders if she really doesn't.

"I know that feeling," June does admit. "This is the worst job I've ever had – and I've only been at it for two days – but it's better than the other options."

"Well, I had really low hopes for my future, so I guess they can't be dashed."

"Here's to that."

June lifts an empty glass and Mai does not move.


	3. Chapter 3

June keeps thinking about how the Phoenix Queen escaped the Boiling Rock. Such a thing only happened once, as far as June knows from her seven years spent there, locked in a filthy cell for no reason other than _slight_ affiliation with enemies of the Phoenix Empire. Anyone would want to find a way out, but most people died trying or at least failed.

"How did you get out?" June decides to ask, since she fears nothing and hates to pussyfoot around the raw truth.

"Of where?" Mai asks.

"The Boiling Rock. You know what I mean. You escaped."

"I think they let me, but I didn't think about it at the time. I was desperate. They were going to execute me and I was willing to take risks," says Mai. "Get me a drink."

June shrugs. She might be a bodyguard, but she would not protest filling a glass or two. Once she hands it over, she sits down and sips her own.

"So, they let you out… why?"

"I don't know. I think it was a trap, to be honest," says Mai. "They found me a few miles away at a campfire by the road. I killed them all with a single knife and made it another week before they sent more competent soldiers to take me down and break my bones before I could slit their throats. The Phoenix King, as he calls himself, offered me a few ways to die or to take this offer and accept this life. I guess he had low confidence in his ability to seduce me."

June laughs. "Yeah. That's one way to propose. Marry me or die."

"There's my story. That's all of it. I've spent the rest of my life repeating the same day over and over and over. I'm bored enough to claw my own eyes out just for a change of pace but I'm not really passionate enough to put any effort in," Mai says, finishing her drink.

"That's it. The whole sordid affair is that short and boring?" June smirks. "Fine. Change of subject. Don't you ever get _lonely_?" June considers saying _'Don't you ever want to party?'_ but knows Mai's answer to that already.

"Mentally, emotionally or physically?" Mai responds without a second thought.

June did not take those differences into account. "Uh, any of those."

"Well, mentally I don't care, emotionally I don't care, and physically I'm not into you." Mai gazes at her glass. "Get me another, and if this glass is empty again, I will literally murder you."

June grabs the cup and fills it. "I want to say I wasn't hitting on you, but I kind of was."

"That's suicidal. Or are you just that pathetically _lonely_?"

"I'm bored. I want to be at that fucking party, but instead I'm babysitting the most boring woman who ever lived."

"I don't care if I entertain you or not. You work for me, not the other way around."

"How long have you been with the Phoenix King? You said the rest of your days which wasn't very specific," says June.

"How long have you lived under a rock?"

"I actually spent the first seven years after Sozin's Comet in prison. I was rounded up with some other randoms who had even the slightest ties to the Avatar and his pathetic friends. I got let out a little over a year ago."

"And you didn't catch up to cultural events?"

June replies, "Nope. I know nothing about you and I don't care to."

"That isn't a bad thing in my eyes," admits Mai and June refills her glass before it fully empties. "I don't like it when people know all my secrets."

"You've spilled them tonight," June says, topping off her own drink.

"I wanted to. You were really starting to annoy me by treating me like an enigma. I'm no one's mystery and I'm no one's reward and I'm no one's belonging," Mai says, so dry but so strongly. June wishes she knew how to talk like that.

"Goodnight, your highness," says June.

Mai does not respond. June grabs the bottle on her way out.

" " "

June overhears an _argument_ while guarding Mai's door, aka the most boring job in the entire world. She imagined Ozai would visit Mai for reasons other than whispering under their breath with pure anger in their tones and the smash of glass punctuating the one loud word June makes out.

 _Zhuji_. A name. Not a common name, but one that sounds vaguely familiar. Mai cheated on him. It is the only conclusion June comes to.

After Ozai leaves, slamming the door and shoving June into a wall, which clenches her fists, the bodyguard steps inside to see her ward with bloody fingers. She must have been the one who smashed that beautiful vase on the floor.

June begrudgingly cleans her up in awkward silence.

At last, she asks, "Who's Zhuji?"

Mai's eyes flash. June was right; they were talking about a man. "I don't know. Look up a census if you're so interested."

"Maybe I _should_ look him up," June asks, trying to convince herself that she is not so interested because she wants a chance with the hot woman.

"Can you read well enough to do that?" Mai dryly asks, not even putting effort into the insult. She must really be hurt by that fight.

"Yeah. Yeah, I can," says June, hoping to prod an answer out of her.

She fails.

" " "

Late at night, Mai stays in her own room. Her bodyguard stands watch outside of her door, but at a late, hour, invites herself inside.

"Do you want to break the monotony?" asks June, approaching the woman she knows only pretends to be asleep in bed. "Do you want to go have fun?"

Slowly, Mai sits up.

"I wouldn't object," she says gently, getting out of her covers and getting dressed. "I'm a little sick of this place."

"But we can't get caught," June says firmly, trying not to think about the repercussions.

"I know," Mai says, rolling her eyes like those consequences would not be gruesome.

"Do you?" June asks, starting to rethink her idea. The Phoenix Queen might be a bit too sheltered from the real world.

"Yes. If we were, I'd be in as much trouble as you," Mai says, biting her lower lip as she opens the window. It once had bars, but no longer. He should not trust her as much as he does.

"I doubt that," June says with a small grimace. "Let's get moving before anyone notices us."

She nimbly slips out of the window and Mai follows while shaking her beautiful head.

" " "

June sneaks off the palace grounds, holding Mai by the injured arm. They walk into the Upper Ring and June glances around at the busy streets.

"Sozin City never sleeps. I heard rumors about the nightlife, when there aren't strict curfews imposed, that is," says June, releasing Mai. "Honestly, I always wanted to come to this city. It was the main reason why I took the job of babysitting you."

"I'm always happy to be a stepping stone to living your dreams," Mai says sarcastically, stepping forward and walking into the crowd. June hustles to catch up to her.

"I'm not losing you, because I will lose limbs if I do that," June says.

"Don't give me ideas," Mai whispers.

But they still walk together into the city.


End file.
